Studying the works of the ancients is necessary to understanding those that follow. This book shows the commonalities of ancient and modern theories of freedom, law, and rational actions. It challenges the trends in research on antiquity using an examination of Montesquieu's and Burk's path of inquiry.

It speaks to the antithesis of monarchy and despotism in Montesquieu's thought and the influence of Tacitus and Pliny the Younger on him. The separation of powers and its relation to the concept of the mixed constitution as well as Montesquieu's smaller masterpiece "Considerations on the Causes of the Grandeur" and "Decadence of the Romans" are examined in detail. Finally, the discussion leads seamlessly to Burke, who, as a critical admirer of Montesquieu, partly incorporated his interpretation of the English constitution into his own thinking threatened by teachings of the French Revolution and its British adherents.The central idea of "Antiquity as the Source of Modernity" is timeless. It is that the ancient past can lead to a clearer understanding of what follows. This perspective represents a reversal of the conventional procedures for conducting this kind of research, but it is a reversal that Chaimowicz embraces in order to add a new dimension to the study and interpretation of both Montesquieu and Burke.